Postgame: Montreal

In some ways, the Crew looked to be in midseason form in tonight’s 2-0 road loss to Montreal. Given what the Crew’s late-season form has looked like lately, it wasn’t a good thing.

After a pair of dominating home wins that saw the Crew win by a combined score of 7-1, the Crew struggled to generate many offensive chances in a humbling loss to the last-place Impact. Coach Gregg Berhalter said it wasn’t for a lack of effort, but otherwise it was a flat performance punctuated by a lack of ball movement.

“I don’t think it was a strong performance,” he said. “I think Montreal deserved to win the game. It wasn’t by much, but little plays made a big difference. We weren’t sharp enough from the opening whistle.

“To me, it was ball movement. That just wasn’t quick enough. We didn’t get in position. The emphasis was switching the field quicker and I thought in the second half we did that and it was wide open and we could take advantage of the space a little better.”

The Crew didn’t force Impact goalkeeper and Ohio native Evan Bush into any saves of consequence while suffering its first shutout since June 29 against FC Dallas. Doing so required even more of an effort after Ignacio Piatti put Montreal ahead in the 40th minute, allowing the Impact to keep numbers behind the ball and force the Crew to pick it apart.

It’s a situation where the Crew has struggled this season, and that remained the case tonight.

“I think it came down to the final ball and some of our decision-making there led to turnovers,” reserve forward Aaron Schoenfeld said. “I don’t really think it was one thing. I just blame it on our team, just not on tonight.”

In addition, Berhalter said the Crew lost too many individual battles tonight to earn a win.

“We got a little spread out,” defender Tyson Wahl said. “We pressed a little bit higher than we normally do. We were a little impatient with that and because of that it caused maybe our midfield to do some extra running and because of that when they had the ball they weren’t as sharp as they maybe have been. Our midfielders have been great for us. We caused them to do too much running and too much extra work tonight and it was tough for us to make those sharp plays when we did have the ball.”

Captain Michael Parkhurst said nothing seemed amiss during the Crew’s week of training.

“I thought we had a good week,” he said. “I thought the intensity was there. Even on Friday I thought it was really clean, really crisp. We just came out here and didn’t have it for whatever reason.”

After the game, Berhalter “was upset,” Parkhurst said. “He was very disappointed in our play. We’ve proven these last couple weeks the level we can play at and when we don’t play at that level it’s disappointing. We lost some battles all over the field.”

YellowsThe Crew will be without key midfielders Wil Trapp and Tony Tchani for the Chivas game after both earned one-game suspensions for yellow card accumulation. Tchani’s came in the 34th minute and Trapp’s the 81st. Both came on poor tackles of Ignacio Piatti, but one was more forgivable than the other in Berhalter’s eyes.

“I can excuse Tony,” he said. “I think it was a play that made some type of sense. I think Wil’s was inexcusable. To me, it was tactically not clever and that’s what we pride ourselves on and what we make ourselves known for. To me, it was not a smart play.

“Things happen. It doesn’t change the way we feel about Wil at all, but it’s not a smart play. Especially knowing your midfield partner is out the next game. You have to be smart, and he wasn’t.”

The Crew is low on depth in the central midfield. Agustin Viana, who filled in admirably for an injured Trapp earlier this year, is expected to miss at least another week with a calf injury, while rookie Fifi Baiden is out for the season after undergoing hip surgery.

That likely means Kevan George (three appearances, one start) and Daniel Paladini (three appearances, two starts) could see the bulk of the action against Chivas.

“Of course it’s a huge loss for us,” Parkhurst said. “Those guy shave played a lot of minutes and they’re key components of our team right up the spine of our midfield. They’re tough guys to replace, but guys are fighting every week in training to get a spot and two guys are going to have their chance.”

Berhalter said the situation could have a positive impact.

“I think it might be good, quite honestly,” he said. “It gives other guys a chance to get in there. I think it might be a positive thing. A shakeup at this stage isn’t the worst. To me, it happened and we’re dealing with it in one game as opposed to multiple games. We deal with it, get new blood in there and go forward.”

Given a choice, however, I’d bet that Berhalter would rather have Trapp or Tchani than not.

StandingsDespite some difficult stretches this season – the one with one win in 16 games sticks out – the Crew had managed to maneuver its way into fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings entering tonight’s game. Had the Crew secured even a point against the team with the fewest points in the entire league, it would be in sole position of third place.

Instead, the Crew now holds the fifth and final playoff spot with eight games remaining – for now. Sixth-place New York is two points behind the Crew and plays Sunday while seventh-place Philadelphia (three points back) plays Wednesday.

By the time the weekend rolls around, the Crew could be in seventh place.

“We’re in a dogfight,” Berhalter said. “We know what we’re in. we know how sensitive the situation is in terms of the spots right now. There’s eight games left. We have eight finals and we need to play like every one is a final.

“I think we took it for granted just a little bit collectively. There are eight games left but this was a good opportunity for us. We are disappointed but now we focus on the next one. The most important thing is the response in the next game. That’s crucial. The margins are really thin in the Eastern Conference.”

QuotableBerhalter, on Piatti, who was signed July 2 and playing only his fourth MLS regular-season game: “Any time you can add quality like that, it makes a difference.”